April bike ride wants to use US 75 Dallas-McKinney, but...

[txstateends]

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2013/01/the_man_who_wants_to_shut_down.php

....TxDOT *hasn't* approved of the plans, which would shut down NB US 75 the whole way.  Oh, and you have to pay to participate.  Oh, and somebody hasn't told the organizers that US 75 is being worked on in McKinney from the TX 121 merge northward.

Amusing, to say the least.

[bugo]

This is about the dumbest idea I've heard since Obama's gun control plan.

[cjk374]

This will inevitably become such an epic fail.  I hope I can remember to check on it in a month or 2.

[NE2]

This is about the dumbest idea I've heard since Obama's gun control plan.

yawn

[AsphaltPlanet]

They do one of these in Toronto every year on the Gardiner and Don Valley Parkway.  Toronto's event seems to be better organized.

http://www.rideforheart.ca/site/pp.aspx?c=cuIQJ8NUKqLaG&b=7080525

[roadman65]

Aren't there other places where they shut down highways for bike rides?  I know there are plenty of them for walking, such as the Mackinac Bridge at one point during the year or the Annapolis Bay Bridge in MD they shut down the old (EB) crossing.

[Brian556]

Just the fact that the cycling organization even suggested this is going to hurt their the cycling communities public image. This makes them look incredibly self-centered; wanted to shut down a major highway that thousands of people use for essensial need every day just for their recreational benifit (so they can use it as their playground).

I do think that cyclists are often self-centered in the way thay act (obstructing traffic, and evdangering public safety (by causing cars to have to cross the center line at unsafe locations to get around them)). They are putting themselves and everbody else in danger.

I think the safety and convenience (not being obstructed) of essensial-use road users should come first, and cycling should not be allowed where it inconveniences others, or is unsafe.

I have no problem with cycling, as long as it's done in a safe and appropriate place.

[NE2]

by causing cars to have to cross the center line at unsafe locations to get around them

Fuck you.

[mc78andrew]

Aren't there other places where they shut down highways for bike rides?  I know there are plenty of them for walking, such as the Mackinac Bridge at one point during the year or the Annapolis Bay Bridge in MD they shut down the old (EB) crossing.

Bronx river parkway in westchester county ny is closed on Sundays in the summer for biking. Not that major of a road though between bronxville and white plains where closing it on Sunday is not a big deal IMO. 

[Alps]

by causing cars to have to cross the center line at unsafe locations to get around them

Fuck you.

Or, perhaps more politely, correct, cars do not HAVE to pass bicycles at unsafe locations. A lot of bicyclists, however, do not give cars room to pass because they think they own the road. I keep right, and cars pass me when it is safe to do so. If it is not safe, I will take the whole lane, but only for as long as absolutely needed.

[NE2]

A lot of bicyclists, however, do not give cars room to pass

Have you measured the road? Is there room to pass safely without crossing the centerline?

[mc78andrew]

by causing cars to have to cross the center line at unsafe locations to get around them

Fuck you.

Or, perhaps more politely, correct, cars do not HAVE to pass bicycles at unsafe locations. A lot of bicyclists, however, do not give cars room to pass because they think they own the road. I keep right, and cars pass me when it is safe to do so. If it is not safe, I will take the whole lane, but only for as long as absolutely needed.

It's a tough question. I don't really bike, but if I did I would love to bike on the scenic back roads here in greenwich ct and all around westchester county ny.  That said, most of those roads are totally unsafe for bikes and cars to share.  I don't know what the answer is. 

Blind corners with grades and narrow roads with no shoulders make the whole thing dangerous here IMO. But bikers here manage to have all kinds of balls and don't seem to care.  Sometimes it seems like they are trying to teach drivers a lesson in making room.  One even cursed at me for rolling a stop sign once even though I see bikers run red lights like its nothing. I responded by winding my twin turbo v8 BMW as loud as i could as i passed him. 

The most dangerous thing of all is a pack of bikers on a road with no shoulder...this just seems way too risky for everyone, but I see packs of 20+ all the time in the summer here that back up traffic as motorists smartly do not risk passing them.  I have even heard stories of police pulling over packs of bikers on A1A in a town called ocean ridge in palm beach county for violating some law agains riding in packs...I have never verified those stories though, but it seems like a logical law in areas without shoulders. 

Oh and great comeback NE2 as per usual. Keeping up your reputation.

[Road Hog]

If they close the freeway (on a Sunday morning), there will not be any cars to avoid.

[kphoger]

by causing cars to have to cross the center line at unsafe locations to get around them

Having driven in places where roads are narrower and bicycles, pedestrians, horses, etc. are more common on the road–I'd say people in the US generally aren't very good at passing.  Passing a cyclist takes all of about four seconds and only a few feet over the center line; if you can't find a safe location to complete a four-second maneuver which might make an oncoming vehicle hug the edge line and/or slow down, then you need to learn how to overtake.  That's assuming, of course, that the cyclist is actually keeping to the right as much as practical.  How far to the right is practical, of course, depends on the road.  This has all been discussed ad nauseum ( *yawn* ) in other threads, so let's abandon this train of thought....

What I agree with Steve about, though (and perhaps this is actually what you meant) is that cyclists should but don't always leave as much room for cars as they should.  The case of US-75 being shut down for a bike ride is sort of a marginal case of cyclists boxing out other vehicles, but it irks me for a similar reason, and a whole lot more so.  I don't think it's reasonable to shut down any major freeway corridor to all vehicular traffic like that.

[AsphaltPlanet]

^ So no parades then?

I don't think the purpose of this ride is to propogate cycling; it seems like a unique event being offerred to Dallas at a time when the fewest people would be inconvenienced.  Cycling down a freeway is a neat thing to for people who are prodominately motorists, not just for cycling nuts.

[kphoger]

^ So no parades then?

On major freeway corridors, no.  Do they really have parardes on major freeway corridors?

[froggie]

I do think that cyclists are often self-centered in the way thay act

To be perfectly fair, this is by far not limited to cyclists.  Drivers are the exact same way, as are pedestrians.

As for the concept of the ride, DC does something similar in the spring that also extends into Arlington, called Bike DC.  It shuts down parts of the GW Pkwy, Rock Creek Pkwy, and VA 110, using Memorial Bridge across the river.  They also do it on a weekend, as the Dallas ride proposes.  I see no problem with it...Sunday's typically the least busy day on the roads, and it's a great way to promote bicycling.  The DC ride often gets tourists participating as much as it does local residents.

[bugo]

Parades should be banned, especially on major through routes.  They have parades in Mena, AR on Mena Street (AR 88) which is a major route through town (as major as a route in Mena is.)  They split the town in two and cause major headaches.  Not to mention leaving horseshit on the road for a day or two.

[Alps]

Parades should be banned, especially on major through routes.  They have parades in Mena, AR on Mena Street (AR 88) which is a major route through town (as major as a route in Mena is.)  They split the town in two and cause major headaches.  Not to mention leaving horseshit on the road for a day or two.

I was coming back from Maine on US 1 and was the last car through before a 2-hour July 4 (or Memorial Day, whichever) parade. US 1 is the only road that goes anywhere for many towns along the coast. So what happens during those 2 hours? It's great to have parades on holidays, but either find and POST a detour for traffic that day, or have it on a side street.

[kphoger]

I was once (2003—2005 era) taking Amtrak from Charlottesville (VA) to Chicago, and we were running a couple of hours behind.  Some random small town in northwestern Indiana was having a parade that day.  Rather than pause the parade to let a late-arriving train by, they instead made our train wait for the whole rest of the parade.  Aarrgghh!  I was living in the Chicago area at the time, so not a huge deal to me; but my father still had to make his flight to Wichita after we arrived.

[txstateends]

Update:
http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2013/02/organizers_cancel_dallas-to-mc.php

What a surprise, it's not going to happen.  In north Texas.

Now a new ride has been announced for Oklahoma City in May.  The organizer said that Plano wouldn't agree to any of the terms so that scuttled the whole thing.

Why do I get the feeling Plano wasn't the only one with any objections?

OK, back to the usual programming (and road closures because of things like construction and accidents)....

[NE2]

You know, this type of thing might actually work well in a barrier-separated HOV lane (like on I-35E). Just do it on a Sunday morning when no major events are planned. Bus participants to the beginning north of Loop 12 and they can ride north into downtown.

[Brian556]

Quote from NE2;

You know, this type of thing might actually work well in a barrier-separated HOV lane (like on I-35E). Just do it on a Sunday morning when no major events are planned. Bus participants to the beginning north of Loop 12 and they can ride north into downtown.

This is actually a decent idea. This way the cyclists could have a dedicated roadway, and not interfere with vehicular traffic in anyway. The only drawback is that the cyclists would be close to high-speed freeway traffic which would be unpleasent from a noise and truck wind blast perspective.

[kphoger]

I thought half the point was to kick the cars off the highway, though..